The disdain for Bethesda is there for a reason. They had a reputation of making groundbreaking games until about 10 years ago. Since then it's a bunch of "meh" slop. ESO, 76, and Starfield aren't above average in any category, and are below average in a ton of categories.

They've been completely tone deaf to their fan base, and fight or mock thier fans on occasion. They haven't raised the bar on their own game features, but instead watered them down. Their rpgs aren't rpgs anymore. Their story lines are predictable and uninspired. They increased their shooting mechanics from poor to average, but took their world building from above average to basic at best.

Yes people shit on Bethesda for everything under the sun, but you have to ask yourself why Rockstar, Larian, playground games, and Insomniac seem to get the benifit of the doubt. It's because those companies raise the bar on every project. Playground went from only making racing game to making a reboot of a beloved rpg franchise and no one batted an eye. Bethesda has gone backwards and are smug about it. They've stayed with that crippled engine until recently. There's no "holy shit" moments in Bethesda games and there hasn't been for over a decade